DEFRA has released the latest stats for the (S, the post-Brexit scheme designed to pay farmers for delivering ‘public goods.’ With 26,100 agreements now in place and a total annual value of £550m, there’s some progress - but much slower than hoped.
Despite expanding the SFI24 offer to 100+ actions (from 34 in SFI23), take-up has slowed. What's going on?
💰 The Numbers:SFI23 still dominates: 25,200 agreements worth £533m.
SFI24 is lagging behind: only 900 agreements worth £16.6m, despite all those new options.
📈 Key Actions:🌿 Herbal leys (SAM3) still lead, with 23% of all SFI payments (£126m) covering 331,500 ha.
🐦 Winter bird food (AHL2) is next at 10.6% (£58m) on 68,100 ha.
🌾 Legume fallow (NUM3) follows close behind at 10.2% (£56m) on 94,400 ha.
🏠 Maintaining traditional farm buildings (HEF1) is the only new action in the top 10. DEFRA say 2 ha of buildings are in agreements, which adds up at £5 per sq m.
🌱 Soil Management Plans (SAM1) feature in 19,000 agreements across 2.94m ha, now accounting for £19.5m in payments. Soil Benchmark is a key enabler, having created plans for ½ million hectares!
🚫 31 of the 59 new SFI24 actions are not included in any agreements?!
⏳ Why the Slowdown?
Farmers embraced SFI23 with the fastest take-up of a DEFRA scheme in history. But SFI24 has been plagued by delays, due to:
1️⃣ Teething problems with the Rural Payments Agency's tech for approving the new options
2️⃣ Speculation that DEFRA deliberately slowed things until after the Budget confirmed the scheme’s long-term funding
3️⃣ Complication: SFI23 was relatively simple with just 34 actions. SFI24's 100+ actions, while giving farmers more flexibility, has added complexity
4️⃣ Seasonality: The latest stats are from the summer when many farms are at their busiest. Winter might see a rebound as farmers have more time
💰 What About the Budget and ?
The recent IHT changes haven’t directly impacted these stats (which run to October 1), but they raise two risks:
a. Loss of trust: Farmers are angry as shown at yesterday's the 19th November . While Tom Bradshaw (NFU President) has pointed out the IHT changes were driven by HM Treasury, DEFRA/Steve Reed’s public defence of the policy hasn't endeared them to farmers.
b. Competing priorities: Farmers, preoccupied with succession planning and the fallout from IHT changes, may not prioritize SFI applications as expected.
🚀 Looking Ahead:
With direct payments shrinking faster than expected due to new Budget caps, SFI is now the only game in town for many farmers. DEFRA claims bottlenecks are being resolved and applications will now be processed much faster. If so, the next quarter’s data (due in February) could show a rebound—particularly as winter gives farms more time for paperwork.
Full figures here.
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